It seemed we had the best of everything; It also seemed as if we were in the midst of vacuum. The palatial buildings of Kolkata seemed to speak a language of luxury, majesty and regality. The splendor of the tall pillars, the well-decorated cornice, the sheer height of these buildings seemed to speak of a British legacy that outstripped human effort. However the fact that these buildings–leftovers of the British Raj are significant facts of a period in history where time almost stood still. Today, what we see in their place is pile of garbage, stagnant water, a breeding ground for mosquitos and the despair in the lives of all the people living in that region. While I captured these photographs I experienced spine-chilling moments of ecstasy and graveyard silences of a lack of hope. I even wondered at the government’s apathy towards protecting these heritage sights from going further into ruins. If Memories could live on forever, I would be able to live the last two hundred years of India’s history merely through the captivating moments of these photographs. My energy level soared up and I felt renewed and rejuvenated after a three-hour walk along the roads of central Kolkata clicking those sights that touched me the most. In fact, these photographs have transformed my thinking about the poor and the needy to large extent.
